Ragnarok
by Willibaldvonsomething
Summary: For nearly two hundred years, the Holy Britannian Empire of Humanity has been at peace under the rule of the Twin Emperors. They have risen to the stars, colonized planets like explorers of old. But finally, after seven decades of solitude, have they made contact with another race? Is war once again on the horizon? Will mankind stand against those who wish to oppress them? Hiatus
1. Prologue to War

"Gods... I know it's wrong to say this but some action would be nice... pirates, meteor shower.. something... to pass the time...I swear Thomas, this is your fault. I don't know how, but it is." Naoko vi Britannia complained to her crew, getting a scattered reply of laughs and grins at the teal-blue haired communications officer.

"I'm sorry Commander, I didn't realize you needed me to hold your hand after forty years in service. It's not like the stupid pirates made off with anything..." The resident chew toy of the _TRM Glories of the Mother, _grumbled quietly.

"Second Lieutenant Ashford, why don't you say that again and speak up. I'm sure the Commander would love to hear your opinion." Pascal grinned down from his place at Naoko's side. There was little more the Italian-Brit enjoyed more than teasing his old squad-mate. "Come on, she doesn't bite."

Naoko just gave her Knight a sideways glance. Should she be reprimanding her men for the nearly constant chatter that filled the bridge of her ship? Probably, but this was basically a paid vacation for her and her crew. Escort a small group of scientists and scout ships through the Relay, take a quick look around to see what's on the other side, and back to Shanxi, drinks for everyone and new colonies for the people.

Besides, even if they were flying a Bulwark-class clunker, they still had some old 24th generation Hector and her own personal Knightmare frames if the proverbial space shit hits the fan. She was her parent's daughter and she'd go down with her ship before letting anything harm the civies.

"Samir! How long till we are green?" Naoko cut through the chatter, wanting to know how long till they could activate the newest relay. This was the third found by the Holy Britannia Empire of Humanity after 70 years in space. With more than thirty colonized worlds and moons, mankind was thriving among the stars.

_All thanks to Auntie Cecile and Project Valhalla._ Naoko smirked. Her family was big, and they weren't all related by blood, but she loved them regardless. _Even Uncle Llyod. Mad scientist as he may be._

"Just waiting on confirmation from the _Westshire, _Commander. ETA. Five Minutes." The Indian-Brittanian didn't look up from his terminal as logistical info scrolled past.

"Thank you. Be sure to double-check with Captain Enad that his scout ships are ready. I want this done quick, clean and with as little pain as possible." Naoka shifted in her seat, sitting up straight for the first time in an hour. They were on standby as the civies finished preparations for activating the giant hunk of metal before them, but it was getting close to show time.

"Hey Pasty." Well, it was close, so she could still fool around for now. Specifically annoy her knight with his pet name.

"Yes, your highness?"

"Oh don't be like that. You know I haven't earned my title yet." Naoko huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Something that little shit Mao keeps holding over my head" She grumbled at the thought of her younger half-brother.

He is a nice guy and all. He just had inherited his father's causal arrogance and ran away with it. Rumor among her siblings was that Mao once enraged Aunt Nunnally by accident. A rather legendary feat among the 'royal brats', considering the women spoiled her various nieces and nephews rotten.

"You think I'll get to meet one of Llyod's new kiddies after all this?"

Pascal just shrugged, honestly not knowing. "I'm unsure commander. If you ask politely, and formally request a leave of absence. It's not like little Alphon or the rest are going to disappear into thin air."

Naoko just smirked. "No.. no they aren't."

"Commander! We have confirmation from the _Westshire_! They're requesting permission to activate the Relay." Samir spoke up from his terminal as the required line of text popped up.

"Give them the go ahead. And put me on broadcast to the rest of the group."

Samir simply nodded, holding up a hand as he counted down to start Naoko's broadcast.

The commander took that time to straighten her black uniform to perfection, or as close to perfection as possible given the circumstances. The army uniform had changed since her father took over. Instead of the ridiculous peacock clowns wear that was worn prior to the Unification.

No, plain black slacks and jacket with silver lining were the current military style. The only difference between an army uniform and that of the Order of the Black Knights would be the logo sewn onto the back. _Well, Papa does have a certain preferred style.._

Personally, Naoko found it a bit.. well dark, but when you're an emperor famed for routing out corruption or gross incompetence with an success rate many attributed to demonic intervention, it made sense that happy colors weren't ones you generally associated with.

_Ah Papa. Feared by the locals as the harbinger of dramatic speeches and by those few idiots still stupid enough to try and cheat the system as the force of their reckoning... I think I'll take Pasty's advice. Take a year off and relax with Mom. Maybe get big sis and everyone to bully Papa into spending a week with us.. ah bugger. Worry bout it later. Time to address the men._

Naoko grinned. If there was one thing she inherited from her father, it was her love for a good speech and dramatic gestures. So as Samir's count hit one, she cleared her mind and stood up, putting on her best smile. Then she started.

"Brave men and women of our Holy Empire! Is it not another glorious day for Humanity! For years, man has stood strong! We have stood firm against our own corruption and base nature! For decades, by the grace of the emperors, with the dedication of it's people and the blood of our soldiers, has the human race stood together!" Naoko didn't shout, but her words carried weight, every man and woman in the seven ship fleet either listening to her broadcast or watching the speech themselves.

"Humanity has left the cradle of Holy Terra! And today, we mere mortals, we few sons and daughter's of the empire stand before our next step through the stars! To make history in the golden age of our great union! Now what say you?! Should we stand and wait for an invitation from the universe?! Or shall we take destiny into our own hands and forge our path to the mountaintop by little more than human will alone?!" Naoko swept her hands to the side as she spoke as if judging the weight of an invisible object she held.

In her left, the choice to wait, for humanity to stagnate, content with their lot and the limits of their empire. In her right was another choice. To take their divine gift, to ascend to the stars as masters. To march forever forward as members of the human race, to fight and survive till the very last man. The men cheered as she raised her right hand, it was a choice any of them would make. To stay content with today, or to look towards the future was hardly a choice at all.

"Then let it be done! Activate the Relay! Get into formation! Man your stations and let us be off! So that generations after us may enjoy the sights of new worlds, of pastures green and oceans blue under stars yet unnamed! All hail the Empire! All hail! Britannia!" Naoko's fist shot into the air as she shouted the usual praise, a small smile of pride stretching across her face as her men cheered back, seeming to shake the armada in their enthusiasm.

_Yes.. today shall be a glorious day for the empire_. Naoko smirked as she took her seat, watching as the Relay started to glow, small arcs of lightning playing off of it. Truthfully the empire didn't need the machines, but why not follow the trail set before them? Once they had coordinates for where the Relay left off, they could scrap the over-sized tuning fork and turn it into something useful.

_Maybe a new Knightmare for Olivia.. oh that'd be nice._

**_An: Yo. So yeah.. just had this idea and I had to get the teaser/prologue out to shut my own brain up. Not sure when I'll update this, but meh. Well, hope you all enjoyed the chapter (short as it is) and I look forward to more in the future. But for now All Hail Brittania! Cause why not?_**


	2. Scary Monsters and Nice Demonspawn

**AN: Just a quick thing for formatting, anything underlined while readable to you, the reader, is incomprehensible gibberish to the characters. Just thought I'd mention it, anyways, hope you enjoy~**

Xavius thought of himself as a respectable turian. Not the best, or the worst example of his race the galaxy had to offer. Just respectable, middling. He kept his head down, followed orders and did everything by the book. The Hierarchy had lasted for centuries, so who was he to make waves?

Noone really. Just a captain sent along with some general on a three month long patrol route on an unactivated Relay. As far as Xavius knew, there wasn't anything political about the assignment or the fact General Ferlis was placed in charge of a paltry thirty ships. Xavius just wrote it off as Ferlis drawing the short straw, stuck with what many of the men were describing as a paid vacation with the worst tour director in Citadel space.

"You know, if you keep scowling like that, your mandibles will get stuck in that position. Here, maybe this will turn that frown upside down, or at least into the traditional Turian scowl of stoicism." Ariana smirked as she took her console next to her turian friend. The sole asari in the armada was on loan, apparently her father wanted the girl to know what 'a proper, well disciplined ship' was like.

Xavius took the offered energy drink with a small nod of thanks, flicking his eyes over to his console as he read through the various reports. _Well if he wanted a 'proper' ship he got one, especially with Ferlis throwing the book at everyone for every misplaced cough.._

"Simply because you are old enough to be my grandmother, doesn't give you the right to nag me soldier." Xavius deadpanned back as he twisted off the cap, taking a small drink. _Spirits I needed this... wonder if Risco has any more booze stowed away somewhere..._

"And there it is, the mister no-nonsense turian Mama always complains bout." Ariana pouted playfully as she took a drink of Illium tea. _Among the best money can buy._

"Yet her bond mate is..." Xavius let his words hang as he took a second glance at the patrol schedule. Three days left under Ferlis's command, then he might be sent off to do something useful for the Heirarchy.

"Well she does love a man in uni-" Ariana started to tease before being cut of by the three words she was starting to hate.

"Officer on Deck!" Some unlucky lieutenant got to announce to the few sharp glances of his fellow soldier.

Ferlis himself stepped into the bridge, taking a moment to stand and examine 'his' soldiers. It was only after he seemed to stare down everyone that he took his seat, waving dismissively. "At ease soldiers."

The next few hours were blur to Xavius as both crew and commander simply went through the motions, staring at the screens before them, reading through report after report, watching the scanners for signs of pirates or the very unlikely event of activity in the Relay.

"Commander!"

Ferlis turned his head towards the officer who spoke up so suddenly. "And what is it, that is so important that you had to speak out so loudly?" The general leveled his subordinate with a reproachful glare.

"Ah.. apologies sir.. it's just that-"

"Well spit it out. If it was pirates we'd have lost half our ships already because you simply can't speak."

"Sorry, sir." The officer ground out. "There appears to be activity at the Relay."

This was enough to shut Ferlis up for a moment. _If I play this right.. I could beat out that fool Sparatus for the Council seat.. imagine.. General Ferlis, made first contact with a group of primitives and brought them under the wing of the Turian Hierarchy.. oh yes.. It'd be perfect. _An almost predatory grin came upon the turian's face.

"Then what are we waiting for. Helmsman! Take us to the Relay. It seems we have some lawbreakers to deal with!" The crew nodded their consent, setting to work as they turn the ships around, the one dull and quiet space reduced to a hive of activity as efforts were coordinated.

_Wait.. lawbreakers?_ Xavius and Ariana shared a look.

The asari maiden raising an eyebrow, no words needed to be spoken, both seeming to be on a similar wave length. _What? Does he seriously intend to punish a new race for breaking a law they didn't even know existed?_

Xavius gave a small nod and a roll of his eyes. _Yes, he's a hardliner. The letter of the law is more important to him than the spirit of it._

Ariana's face dropped, shooting Ferlis a small glare before turning back to her friend and fellow soldier. _And we are just going to let him arrest innocent people because he's got a stick up his ass for what is and isn't a crime?_

Another nod from Xavius and a sip of his energy drink. _Yes, just relax though. If they cooperate, no one will get hurt. They are probably just primitives after all._

_Still! _Ariana scowled, the pair continuing their silent conversation as they went to work.

_Ariana, relax. We are Turians. We are professionals. No one will get hurt unless they do something stupid. Now get to work soldier. _Xavius finished with a reassuring smile. _Yes.. Everything will be fine.._The turian soldier thought to himself.

* * *

><p>Ariana didn't know what to think as she looked at the small group of ships hanging around the Relay. The two groups were at a standstill for the past few minutes, no one making a move as they sized each other up.<p>

_Ferlis's fleet is one dreadnaught, fourteen cruisers and fifteen frigates... almost overkill against seven ships.. one dreadnaught and six frigates.. _She sighed as she looked over the group of ships her commander had surrounded shortly after they'd jumped into the system. Listening to Ferlis complain and play up their charges was starting to give her a headache.

_Of course they are going to put up shields, you idiot! Here we are, jumping out of nowhere with a gun to their head and you expect them to just stand there and take it?! Well then.. let's see if things play out the way you want them to.. if not.._ Ariana sighed as she continued to work on her report to the Turian Councilor. She'd prefer to send it to Tevos, but that might cause an even bigger political shit storm.

In their haste, no one thought the shields surrounding the newcomer's ships were odd. After all, eezio's and it's effects usually had a blue coloring, and only appeared when hit. The science teams simply wrote it off as a primitive race's prototype mass effect shielding with a variety of small factors changing the color.

_No, for now this stays a turian matter until they are ready to ask for help. _Ariana took what little time she had to admire the dreadnaught of the race before her. It was a rather boxy, and dare she say regal looking set of ships as if every ship was expected to appear in a royal procession in it's stark gray hull with gold trim.

_Glories of the Mother.. wonder what that means_ She pondered as a signal came up. _It seems the new species was sending them a data package. _Ariana quickly made a copy before starting to run it through a translator VI.

* * *

><p><em>Well this is where everything goes to shit..Sloan owes me twenty dollars next time I see her..<em> Naoko thought with a sigh as she continued shouting orders, getting the civilians to the back of the formation with her scout ships surrounding it.

"Let's move people! We got ET starring us down by the barrel of a gun! I don't give half a shit how, I just want those shields up yesterday! Ashford! Do we have a lock on our coordinates comparative to Shanxi!?"

"Not yet ma'am! Give me six more minutes to work my magic, then we'll be good to go!" The blue haired communications officer shouted back as he worked frantically to get a signal reply from Shanxi to confirm their position.

"Samir! Get a message out to the rest of the fleet! Priority Code Black! We are now operating under Winter Contingencies! And be sure to tell Enad if things go tit's up to get the damn eggheads back safe and sound. And if says he'd rather stand and fight, tell him it's a god damn royal decree that's going to end with his ass in a meat grinder if he disobeys!"

Samir for his part simply just nodded, fingers flying across his keyboard, not even taking time to acknowledge his commander as he started relaying orders and information between the various ships.

"Pascal, you and the squad are to get your pampered asses into your knightmares and be ready for action the moment I say. Tell engineering to get my baby ready for me to be tearing down there to take personal command! Let's go people! Move, move, move!" Pascal gave out a quick salute before taking off running.

Naoko took a quick breath, catching herself as someone informed her the blaze luminous and radiation wave passive shielding were at full power on all ships, coating everything in a soft green light. _Alright Naoko.. time to make Papa and Mama proud_.

"Longsworth! Send out the first contact package and put me on broadcast to all channels. Audio only." Naoko spoke up once she was ready, "Let's hope the little gray bastards are willing to play ball..." She spoke quietly to herself.

Longsworth for her part just nodded and gave Naoko a thumbs up. She was on air. _Well damn.. here we go..first priority, buy time to get everyone out of here.. second is make friends with the bastards that got us at gun point._

* * *

><p>"Sir! We are detecting radio chatter from the dreadnaught of the new race. They appear to be trying to hail us!"<p>

"Well bring it up you fool, let's hear what they have to say in excuse of their transgression."

Xavius just quietly snorted, he'd started to see what Ferlis's game was here. _Start a war with the primitives, conquer them and add them as a client race to the hierarchy. Probably vying for a promotion or something stupid like that..Not like we'd even be able to understand them at this point.._The turian thought as the recording started playing through the ship's speakers.

"...Naoko Kozuki-Vi Britannia of the Holy Britannian Empire of Humanity. We are simple explorers and come in peace. We do not wish for conflict, but we have civilian's aboard and will do everything and anything in our power to ensure their safety. At this time we politely ask that all parties stand down and that we may be allowed to leave to contact our superiors, so our two races may meet and work towards a better future. I will continue broadcasting this message for the next twenty minutes, if no reply is given, we will forge our own path to safety... This is.."

_Now if only we knew what they were saying... _Xavius sighed as he watched out of the corner of his eye as Ariana went to work. He could guess what she was going to do. _Hopefully once the politicians get a hand on this we can avoid too many casualties._

"It seems they are willing to communicate... Send them a message. They have ten minutes to stand down and allow a boarding party in compliance with Citadel law or we will take immediate measures to remove them from our space." Ferlis tapped the armrest of his chair for a moment before continuing. "For the safety of our crew, I want all ships to power up weapons in preparations for any resistance. No one is to fire unless I order it."

Xavius just shook his head as he continued his work. He was a soldier first and foremost, which meant he had to follow orders. For the last time today, he wished for as little bloodshed as possible.

* * *

><p>"Commander they are powering up weapons!" An African-Britannian spoke up after everyone listened to, and tried to comprehend the gibberish respond they were given. With this piece of news though, the alien's intentions were clear. Something along the lines of 'Boom, you dead.'<p>

_Shit._ Naoko swore. She had no idea what kind of heat they were packing. Even if they somehow had a tech advantage, it as still thirty against basically one. _Well.. at least they all use peewee ships.._The thought that most of her opponents were using nothing bigger than her clunker gave her semblance of peace. _I wonder what they'll think of when they see Papa's ship._

"Battle stations! The enemy has made their intentions known! Men, it has been an honor to serve at your side, and I have no goddamn intentions to stop now! So let us do our sacred duty as the shield of the people and lay down our lives for those who do not have the ability to do so! The strong may rule the weak, but it is the duty of the strong to protect those who cannot protect themselves!"

Another cheer rose up from her men as they got to work, but as they got ready Naoko couldn't share in their enthusiasm. Sure she kept the smile on her face, the look of confidence as reports flooded in but the only thought going through her head was an apology.

It couldn't have possibly been her fault, just a simple twist of fate lead to this encounter, yet here she was about to defend her people from an aggressive alien race. _Mama.. Papa.. I'm sorry.. I may have once again brought the monster of war onto the shores of our beautiful Empire._

"Longsworth, you are acting XO while Pascal and I lead the charge. Do not fail me."

The blonde woman nodded again as she shifted her station to tactical view, ready to offer artillery support to her commander, giving her a quick salute.

With that out of the way, Naoko took of running to the hanger bay. She had a baby to board and a battle to fight as she put on her headset, relaying orders to the various ship captains. Her plan was simple, hope to survive the first volley or distract through the first volley then blitzkrieg the bastards, draw attention away so that remaining ships can get away.

_Well, you Alien punks. If you think the empire, or better yet, I will go down without a fight. You are sorely mistake._ Naoko thought as she hoped into her custom knightmare frame, the Kokai Mark IV. A six meter tall mass of metal painted in a deep, blood red armed with dual MVS Three-prong tridents, a pod of back-mounted anti-knightmare missiles, and four Needle Blazer's located on the various joints of her beloved machine.

The Kokai was a 30th generation knightmare and a monster of melee combat, designed to get in close before tearing through whatever got in it's way. Now, it's gleaming blue eyes were set on the ships currently pointing a gun at her men.

"Ladies and Gentleman, this is your commander speaking. I've made enough pretty speeches today... so fuck doing another one! They plan on blowing us back to Holy Terra itself!" The joke name always got a laugh from the men. The empire was by no means religious or had an official religion even while being a 'holy' empire, but ah well.

"But screw that and screw them, I don't plan on giving them the chance! So fall in and let's show these sons of shaggy dogs who exactly they are pissing off! For the empire! All hail! Britannia!" Naoko finished as she felt the pinch that always accompanied the neural link between herself and her baby connecting, smiling at her men's response as the air lock opened, echoing her words as they dove into the black void, energy wings flaring up behind them like black angels of the abyss.


	3. Tides of Red

Xavius wasn't sure what happened. One minute they were waiting for the alien surrender, the next they had been hailed again. Ferlis let it through, expecting what everyone else was, the message saying or at least implying they understood they were outmatched.

What they didn't expect, was a single block of text to appear on the overlay in alien letters before music of all thing started playing. The words 'All Hail Britannia' would forever be remembered by the survivors of first contact.

As various technicians scrambled to stop the signal, only to be denied or rerouted at every turn, thanks to a smirking blue haired communications officer not so out of sight, a turian officer cried out that multiple contacts had just appeared on the sensors.

"How many soldier!?" _This could be an issue, if these primitives have reinforcement's..._ Ferlis asked as the command center started to scramble, just awaiting orders on who and when to fire on. The science officers were reading a negative on any traces of eezo, so this will be as easy as shooting fish in a bush or some other stupid asari proverb.

"Sixty-two sir! They seem to be coming out of the dreadnaught!"

_So they are firing a barrage of missiles.. the Point to Point defenses should take care of a paltry sixty warheads._

"It seems these primitives have refused our attempts at a peaceful surrender! These barbarian's face the might of the Turian Hierarchy! All ships, focus fire on the dreadnaught! Eliminate it, then the rest will fall with ease!" Ferlis quickly took command as his thirty ships let loose on the new race.

_May the spirit's have mercy on you brave souls.. _Xavius thought as he watched the various streaks of light that he knew as mass effect fired rounds stream towards the enemy dreadnaught.

Xavius, Ariana, Ferlis and every turian with a view of the enemy blinked the rounds impacted on green shields, only to be ignored as if it was only a fly hitting a windshield before the enemy bared it's teeth. Four red dots started to glow, before firing in the span of half a heartbeat.

"Enemy weapo-" The soldier cut himself off as he watched six frigates be torn to pieces by red lances of spirits damned pure energy.

"The enemy has fucking energy weapons!?" One rather green soldier nearly screamed in horror as the rest stood stunned, most beginning to regret the decision to sign up for this tour while Ferlis grinned.

_If I could subjugate a race with energy weapons.._ His place in history and on the council would be locked airtight.

"All ships, weapons free! Take out the dreadnaught before it can cause any more-" Ferlis's orders were cut off as his ship shook under him.

* * *

><p>"Alright boys! We survived the first volley, let's go, go, go!" Naoko screamed over the radio as she watched the pitch black bodies of the Hector knightmare frames split of in teams of two. The mass firing tactics had taken the shields down to 9% and even if they were recovering, they wouldn't recover fast enough to deal with another beating like that.<p>

_Least Ashford's giving them a little bit of a headache._ It was a petty and probably pointless tactic to fill their ships with the glorious sound of Britannia's national anthem but Naoko lived for petty victories, they made the job bearable.

With that thought in mind, Naoko and Pascal in his personal unit, the Caeser Victoria, took of towards what they guessed was either the enemy command ship or their heavy hitter.

_Either way, it's done for. _She smirked as her knightmares started to dance past the flashes of light she assumed were point to point defense turrets. _Like hell some knock-off AI ran program is going to get me~_

Naoko smirked as she sped past another, thrusting a trident into the hull as she continued on, tearing a nice long gash from one end to the other.

* * *

><p>"Sir the contacts are moving erratically! They don't seem to be missiles! We are getting reports that they are.. spirits it's fucking mechs! They have space flight enabled mechs with some sort of weapons that can cut through our hull like cloth! Deck level 3, right side is completely spaced and the rest of the fleet is sending in reports of their weapon systems or engine's being damaged!"<p>

"Damn it all am I the only competent one around here!? Take evasive maneuvers and deal with these damn mechs! There are only sixty of them! The Gardian system should be able to deal with dozens of contacts at a time! Tell the cruisers to keep up the pounding of the damn dreadnaught, let's go people! Or at this rate we'll all be spaced!"

Ferlis shouted over the chaos. "And someone get on the horn with Pavalen! Tell them we've been attacked by a race of primitives with what appear to be energy weapons! I'm requesting permission to eliminate and pursue for the safety of the Citadel Council!"

One random officer shouted he'd do it before the ship shook again. "Some idiot get me a picture of what we are dealing with!" Ferlis could only watch as three more of his ships exploded the glowing grey pinpricks of light the only visible sign of the enemy in the void of space.

"Sir, the frigates are making towards the relay! They are trying to escape!"

The words that were running through Ferlis's head at this point are things that shouldn't be written down, just for sheer vulgarity.

"Target the damn frigates then! Don't let these criminals escape, and deal with those drones! This is an insult to the history of the Hierarchy itself if we lose to a single dreadnaught and a bunch of damn mechs, made by freaking primitives who don't even know about eezo!"

* * *

><p>"Red Wave, this is Little E, we are on approach for the run way. Shields are taking a peppering, but we'll manage if you keep the heat off of us... Red Wave, I know it's not my place to say but this is a personal recommendation from a man who might not be seeing your ugly mug again, if things start to look dicey, give the alien bastards some good old fashion love'n"<p>

Naoko could almost picture the sad smile on Enad's face at his suggestion. "Little E, this is Red Wave. Considering we're backed into a corner, I see no reason why we don't rock their world. Just do me a favor. Get Shanxi prepared for anything. I'm getting a feeling that this is a mere whiff of the pile of crap we're going to be facing down."

"Understood Red Wave, and I'd wish you good luck, but you'd probably kick my ass for jinxing you."

"Thanks Little E, now get your ass moving. I got an ET to shich-kabob." Naoko smirked as the transmission cut off to a bark of laughter, watching as the Hadron Cannons on the _Glories of the Mother_ fired again, taking out another three ships, one of the intended target either lucky or smart enough to avoid the dark red death ray.

"_Glories of the Mother_, this is Red Wave, the moment the package is safe, we are weapons hot, authorization code Delta-Delta-Zero-Love-."

"Red Wave, this is _Glories of the Mother, _we understand and will begin preparations at once. Should we wrap it up with a nice pretty bow, or we just giving ET his gift by itself?"

"Oh you know me. Why waste pretty paper and fancy gift cards on a one time thing?"

"Acknowledged. Good luck out their Red Wave."

"And now you jinxed it _Glory._" Naoko flipped off the transmission as she went back to directing her forces as she danced around the barrage of colored lights aiming to blow her to hell. Between the two volleys from her ship and the knightmare harassment, the enemy was down from thirty to nineteen. The only reason she hadn't been able to take out the command ship so far was it's immense size.

_Well let's fix that._ "This is Red Wave transmitting to Knightmare corpse! I want a sit rep now!" Naoko set her machine into a tight back flip, plummeting to the underside of the mile long ship, fully intent on busting through a cargo bay and causing some chaos inside.

"Red Wave, this is Triangle Boy we've lost O-1, O-5 and O-49 to the ships defenses but we'll manage out of little more than spite alone."

"Gotcha Triangle Boy. I'm going into the belly of the beast. Be advised that hugs and kisses has been authorized. So gentleman, keep an ear out for the mark. When we get back to Shanxi you can have all the booze and women you want, but for now we're staying celibate!"

A chorus of "Yes Ma'am" was Naoko's response as she finally found a spot that looked promising. She ducked left and right, getting in close to sink a trident into the blasted turrets, before ribbing it off the ship to the satisfying sound of torn metal. Naoko continued this process with the other 5 turrets that were attempting to draw a bead on her until she finally had her own little space of peace and quiet.

"Knock, knock~" Naoka plunged both of her tridents into the hull. "Anyone home?" With only a small thought the arms of the knightmare moved, tearing a small hole in the frame. She took a small moment to put the two tridents back in their holster on her back before using her knightmare's hands to make the hole big enough for her machine to squeeze through.

"Whoops~ Now that's just rude!" Naoko yelped as a crate nearly took her knightmare's head off as the cargo bay in front of her depressurized. _And bingo._ Doing her best to ignore the aliens and random assortment of objects that were being sucked out into space, the pilot took a moment to assess her opponent.

"We are fighting some goddamn metal dodo birds.." Naoko grumbled under her breath as she took out a single trident, activating the MVS tip before charging forward. To the unfortunate turians facing the charge, it was a scene almost out of a knightmare. The only ones who managed to hold their ground were those who face Krogan's in a blood rage before. Sadly those brave souls were the first torn to pieces by the red hot blades of the Kokai.

* * *

><p>"Sir! One of the mechs has breached the hull!"<p>

_Damn, damn, damn. _Ferlis swore under his breath as the camera feed from the storage bay came up for the bridge to watch. _It's a monster.. it's a damn monster._ The turians watched as their fellow crewmates were treated like target dummies by the red blur and it's damn stick!

"Get everyone available down there with as much fire power as we got! Capture the mech if possible! If not, blow the damn thing back to the spirits for all I care!" Ferlis shouted, his voice finally starting to crack under the pressure as he watched two more of his ships explode from the interference of the mechs.

How the hell some stupid mechs were agile enough to avoid short range lasers was a question Ferlis didn't have the answer to, but if he could get his hands on one and send it back to the engineers in Pavalen. _Well, just might be the reason for Turian's to become the true face of galactic superiority. No more bowing down to those two-faced asari._

"Energy spike coming from the Relay! At current rate they are expected to leave the system within four minutes."

Even more bad news.. should he let the frigates retreat and possibly build up defensive fleet? _No.. this is probably a good chunk of their military might. Without eezo they lack FTL capacities.. likely they just have a relay within a day's journey in sub-light engines. Even if they have energy weapons, it might just be that one ship.. it's a dreadnaught so it must have been a massive undertaking for them to make.._

As Ferlis started to connect the dots in his head, Xavius just watched the camera feed coming to one of two conclusions._ Either that mech's manned or it's run by a bloody AI..._He couldn't decide which possibility was scarier.

Xavius glanced over at Ariana who was looking at Ferlis with as much contempt as the Asari Maiden could muster and if he lacked any part of the traditional turian frostiness, he'd be joining her. Seeing as his CO was busy and everyone else was doing their best to deal with the sole mech poking holes into their hull, Xavius leaned over to slip his asari crew-mate a data chip.

What he was doing was strictly speaking treason to the Hierarchy itself, but Xavius didn't join the military to get himself killed, or for glory. He joined because it was his duty to protect the galaxy at any cost, and if it so happened to be his reputation and life, so be it.

Ariana blinked as she felt something touch her hand, only to find a stone faced Xavius and a chip next to her. It took her about 2 seconds to get the implications. She gave her friend a small nod before going to work, uploading Xavius's data along with her own before writing up a short message.

Taking a moment to read things over Ariana contemplated what she was about to do. _Now or never... you don't do this, countless others may lose their lives in a war started by an idiot with a stick up his ass and his nose in a book, _

With that thought in mind, Ariana selected Councilor Terituris, the current Turian councilor only hesitating for a moment before pressing send.

**AN: Well a few things I forgot last time. Kokai is japanese for 'Red Sea' (Or so says google translate, so if that's wrong, flame me as thou wishes I deserve it.) Also, I tried but I couldn't find the Turian councilor prior to Sparactus so I made one up. Again, sorry, flame as you wish. But anyways, I personally am looking forward to the next chapter. Why? I've given enough hints and I'm sure someone will pick it up ;P**

**Anyways, I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far, I hope to continue to live up to expectations, so I'll see you later for the next chapter~**


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